Sync to Proton Drive via rclone + WebDAV

This guide shows how to sync Super Productivity to Proton Drive on desktop. Proton Drive has no official third-party sync API, so this works by running a small local bridge — rclone exposing your Proton Drive as a local WebDAV endpoint — and pointing Super Productivity's existing WebDAV provider at it. There is no dedicated "Proton Drive" option in the app; you configure the WebDAV provider against a local address.

Read this first — experimental, no support. This setup relies on rclone's community-maintained, reverse-engineered Proton Drive backend. Proton does not officially support third-party access, and the backend can break whenever Proton changes its API or encryption. Like generic WebDAV sync (see [[2.08-Choose-Sync-Backend]]), this path is experimental and provided as-is, without support. Most problems come from the rclone/Proton side or your local setup — please troubleshoot those with the rclone community and do not report them to Super Productivity as bugs. If you want fully supported cloud sync, use Dropbox or SuperSync instead. Always keep backups (see [[2.02-Restore-Data-From-Backup]]).

Desktop (Electron) only. The bridge needs a local rclone process, so this does not work in the web app or on mobile.

How It Works

Super Productivity  →  WebDAV provider  →  http://127.0.0.1:<port>  →  rclone serve webdav  →  Proton Drive

Your Proton login (including 2FA and mailbox password) lives only in rclone's own config. Super Productivity never sees or stores your Proton credentials — it only talks to the local WebDAV endpoint.

1. Install rclone

Install rclone and make sure it is on your system PATH (or note the full path to the executable). Verify it works:

rclone version

2. Create a Proton Drive remote

In a terminal, run:

rclone config

Create a new remote of type protondrive. The prompts walk you through your Proton login, including 2FA and (if you have one) your separate mailbox password. Give the remote a name — protondrive is a good default.

Confirm it is configured:

rclone listremotes
# should include: protondrive:

3. Start the local WebDAV bridge

Run rclone as a local WebDAV server bound to loopback, with a fixed port and credentials you choose (so you can configure the app once):

rclone serve webdav protondrive: --addr 127.0.0.1:8585 --user sp --pass "choose-a-strong-password"

Notes:

• --addr 127.0.0.1:8585 binds to loopback only — the bridge is not reachable from other machines. Pick any free port.
• The --user / --pass here are local-only credentials for the bridge; they are unrelated to your Proton account. Use a strong value anyway.
• Leave this process running while you sync. To keep it running across reboots, set rclone up as a background service / autostart entry — see the rclone serve docs and your OS's service manager.

4. Configure the WebDAV provider in Super Productivity

1. Open Settings → Sync & Backup → Sync.
2. Set Sync provider to WebDAV.
3. Fill in:
   • WebDAV Base URL: http://127.0.0.1:8585
   • Username: the --user value (e.g. sp)
   • Password: the --pass value
   • Sync Folder Path: a folder to store sync files in, e.g. /super-productivity
4. (Recommended) Set a client-side encryption key so your sync files are encrypted at rest.
5. Click Test Connection, then enable sync.

That's it — Super Productivity now syncs to Proton Drive through the local bridge, using the standard WebDAV pipeline.

Keeping It Running

The bridge must be running whenever the app syncs. If rclone serve is not running, sync will fail to connect (this is expected). Common approaches:

• Start it manually before you work.
• Run it as a background service (systemd user service on Linux, a Launch Agent on macOS, a scheduled/startup task on Windows).

If you change the port, credentials, or remote, update the WebDAV settings to match.

Encryption

Proton Drive stores your data end-to-end encrypted on Proton's side. The hop from the app to the local bridge is plain HTTP, but it never leaves your machine (loopback only). Enabling Super Productivity's client-side encryption key additionally encrypts the sync file contents before they reach rclone — recommended.

Troubleshooting

• "Connection failed" / cannot reach the server → make sure rclone serve webdav … is still running and the Base URL/port match.
• Login, 2FA, mailbox password, or "remote not found" issues → these are rclone/Proton concerns. Re-run rclone config, test with rclone lsd protondrive:, and ask on the rclone forum. These are not Super Productivity bugs.
• Sync worked, then suddenly stopped after a Proton change → the reverse-engineered backend may need an rclone update. Update rclone first.
• Uploads fail or files look truncated → some cloud backends upload more reliably with a write cache. Add --vfs-cache-mode writes to the rclone serve webdav command and restart the bridge.

Related

• [[2.08-Choose-Sync-Backend]] — Overview of all sync providers and their support status
• [[2.09-Configure-Sync-Backend]] — Configuring the WebDAV provider in detail
• [[3.08-Sync-Integration-Comparison]] — Side-by-side provider comparison
• [[2.02-Restore-Data-From-Backup]] — Restoring if something goes wrong